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This is the basic set-up of the film, and across an admirably light-footed 2<\/span>\u00a0hours and 15<\/span>\u00a0minutes it charts the incremental (but perhaps inevitable) process of American degradation via its to-do list of sacred cow targets. These range from fervent 2<\/span>nd<\/sup> Amendment champions, small government proponents and shady white supremacists to BLM<\/span> protesters, White saviour complex types and even Antifa, who in this world are portrayed as an elite, well-funded commando unit posted by private jet to take down specific irritant targets. With Joe\u2019s spiralling, ideologically-driven antics now receiving national coverage, he duly courts the ire of the Antifa enforcers.<\/p>\n Eddington<\/i> is a\u00a0deeply cynical film for deeply cynical times, and if you\u2019re looking to find a\u00a0hero to root for in this fucked-up fresco, then you need to keep on walking. Perhaps the closest we come to a\u00a0locus for empathy is Micheal Ward\u2019s newly minted police-sergeant Michael, who is trapped between working for a\u00a0racist, ignorant, self-serving menace, and his white millennial ex-girlfriend who has at the front of BLM<\/span> protests and wants him to join the as a\u00a0Black officer who acknowledges the rot in the system.\u00a0<\/p>\n This avowedly switched-on film is gorgeously shot by the great Darius Khondji and packed to the gills with easter-egg like gags which emphasise how the collective brain-rot that comes from obsessive posting has almost reached Defcon One. The film certainly is rare in actually offering an authentic depiction of social media and its noxious capabilities, even if its insistence on proving there\u2019s no righteous moral that can\u2019t be swiftly liquidated does become a\u00a0little tiresome by the home stretch. Phoenix, as ever, commits to the bit and then some, and he keeps his gallon-hat sporting tinpot demagogue anchored with enough downhome charm to keep you second-guessing his motives.<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t say that Ari Aster has entirely won me over with the full buffet, amuse bouche, entr\u00e9es, two deserts, cigars, digestifs and petit fours that is Eddington, but the needle is set closer to zero for his next madcap, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink offering slides down the\u00a0chute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n